Thanksgiving in Russia

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We celebrated Thanksgiving on Sunday. Since thanksgiving is not a Russian holiday, it’s a bit easier to have the meal on Sunday.

In addition to several friends, Olga’s mother and grandparents joined us. Olga’s grandfather, Orest Maxmilianovich Grotten is 92 years old, and we were very glad he could be with us. Above is Olga with her mom and grandparents. Valerie is not in the picture because she was busy having her face painted by Natasha Pavlova.

We had turkey and dressing (my mom’s recipe), gravy, mashed potatoes, and a variety of non-American dishes including Korean carrot salad and Russian mushrooms with onions. At times like this, I look back in wonder at the life God has given me. We are so very thankful for His love and guidance.

News about Valerie: we’ve submitted documents to the court regarding the removal of parental rights from Valerie’s birth mother, Oksana. We were expecting a court date this month, but the judge is on holiday and won’t set a date until she’s back on late January. So, we wait. We continue to be in touch with Oksana, helping her and encouraging her. Olga has visited her in prison several times, and we stay in touch by mail. Olga is homeschooling Valerie using some basic kindergarten material, and that’s yielding good results; Valerie is speaking better and learning her numbers pretty well. It’s fun to watch her learn and improve.

I go to the US this week; I will attend a Stoneworks board meeting in Chattanooga on December 7. Olga and Valerie will join me a little later. We plan to spend Christmas with my family in Georgia and Tennessee and then make a trip to Texas in January.

Ministry continues. We’re planning several mission trips to Russia, Estonia and Montenegro next summer. One team will be 40 teenagers! That should be fun. I’ll be in Montenegro in May with a team, in Russia with a team in June and in Estonia with a team in early July, then back to Montenegro with a team in late July (if all goes as planned). I’ve recently made several trips to Estonia and things there are going very well. I’ll have news about that soon.

I recently wrote a friend in the US something that’s been on my mind for a while: More and more, I’m feeling grounded in the knowledge that the flow of love is God’s most important action among men. The greatest commandment is to love God; the second greatest commandment is to love others; people will know we are followers of Jesus by our love for one another; God is love; He loved us enough to save us. All of these scriptures prove the primacy of real, heart-felt, selfless love.

 

10 Years

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Today is Thanksgiving in the USA. While it’s not a holiday here in Russia, it is certainly a day of celebration for me and Olga.

Today we celebrate our 10th anniversary. As a special treat on our anniversary today we both woke up sick with head colds. The start of a great day!

The picture at left was taken on the day we met. I (Mike) was hosting a dinner for Russian interpreters who had been working with mission teams.

This happened at the same time we were staffing up MIR, the Russian charity we were starting, so I invited Olga to attend since she had been recommended as a secretary/interpreter for MIR. Olga’s ‘interview’ was conducted as she and one of our board members prepared chicken in the kitchen. She fit right in from the start.

These 10 years have seen many good times and many challenges. We are so very thankful for where the Lord has led us, for the life He has given us. This gives us faith and trust that the road ahead, however challenging it may be, will certainly lead to green pastures if we’ll abide with Christ along the way. He is a good shepherd.

Here is the moment I proposed, in the garden at dacha:

 

 

This Makes Me Happy

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Here’s a great example what gives me joy and of how Stoneworks helps –

Last month Olga Gonchrenko, our director in Belarus, posted this as part of her update:

wheelchair 300x224 The Heart of MinistryWe were given 2 wheelchairs that were a great blessing to 2 women who were in great need for the chairs. Valentina, the first woman, got into a car accident 2.5 years ago. She can’t move her lower part of the body, she lives all by herself and she is praying for a computer, so that she can keep in contact with the outside world as well as work part time on the computer.

One of our supporters, Erin, was touched and gave money to purchase a computer for Valentina. Erin’s Bible study class gave money to pay for the first year of internet service (which is very considerate).

november 201 011 300x218 The Heart of MinistryTo me, this is an excellent example of how the Lord uses living stones (1 Peter 2:5), the body of Christ, to express His love to those in need.

Several people in the Stoneworks family fulfilled their roles; Mary Jean Preece, the Stoneworks Administrator, handled the transaction well, Olga Goncharenko guided the ministry, others posted news on the website and in the newsletter, and Valentina’s prayers have been answered.

And perhaps best of all, Valentina and Erin (with the help of Google Translate) are now in direct communication.

november 201 008 The Heart of Ministry

A Note from a Friend

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I recently received this from Dennis Ellis, a missionary I met in Russia several years ago.

Katya and I want to thank you for your friendship, prayers and care for us. God has been so good to us to bring us through many difficult times. In the fire we have come face to face with Him Who is really what it is all about.

Recently, two very dear friends learned that I had preached at an old one room church located in Wears Valley, TN that they had looked at on their recent trip to visit us.

They then found and purchased a burnt engraved picture of that old church and gave it to us for our office. The church building is now a Historical Site and no longer is filled with the sounds of singing, praying and preaching that it did that Sunday on March 22, 1969.

Forty two years ago I drove my little VW Beetle to that one room church hidden in the Wears Valley. God showed up and we saw nearly every person in the church at the altar. It was a one room church where they pulled curtains together to make Sunday School rooms.

I wrote a note in my journal that they gave me $22.99 offering and ask me to come back in two weeks for the rest of my pay. I did so even though the trip was many hours of driving. They then gave me two chickens. May I add; two live chickens. You should have seen me driving on those dirt roads through the mountains with two live chickens in the back seat. Before I got back to campus, I believe that I would have given them back the $22.99 if they would have kept the two chickens. Just kidding.

While looking back in my old journal to find the date I had preached there I realized that I had been preaching since the spring of 1961. If I am figuring right that is 50 years. 50 years of telling folks about our wonderful Lord. You know I wouldn’t change a day of it. Even the heartaches or disappointments was really about Him. I have to say that, “The Longer I Serve Him, The Sweeter He Grows”.

I just wanted to share with you this special time for me and the realization that 50 years ago I said yes to the Lord and it has been an amazing journey that has lead us though out many countries and witnessed tens of thousands of folks come to know our precious Lord.

Please pray for us that we may continue to pursue serving Him until the Day He returns for His Church. Thank you for being a part of this journey.

Yours by His Wonderful Grace,

Dennis

www.openlightministries.org

About Valerie

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As many of you know, we’re in the process of adopting a 4 year old girl. Here’s a little news about how she’s doing.

Valerie is doing very well. She has a few developmental delays, and we’ve been addressing them over the past several months. We especially thank Beth Shanklin, a friend and neuro-developmentalist, who assessed Valerie and wrote a personalized program for her.

A Russian speech therapist came to visit us said we are doing great. We don’t need to hire her for other than occasional visits and giving recommendations. Olga’s doing a great job helping Valerie and being a good mom.

We’re still waiting to hear from the court if they have set a date to consider terminating Valerie’s mother’s parental rights. We hope this will happen soon but it’s out of our hands now.

We’re at the very first stages of homeschooling. We’ve set up a little desk for Valerie and are looking for a full curriculum.

A walk in the park:

Dinner with Friends

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A couple of evenings ago we had a dinner for the MIR staff at our flat, hosting 17 people. It was great to have a peaceful, fun time with our friends.

MIR has been going through a tough time financially and yet the ministry continues to expand and do good work. We’re expanding an ecological studies program, we’re planning for a big short-term team that will visit next year (40 teenagers!) and Yan and Nadya Boldyrev are becoming an active part of the core of MIR.

It’s an honor to witness such good relationships and self-less servants.

A Postcard from . . . . Everywhere

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Since our last Postcard we’ve been all over Europe. At the end of August we drove from Russia to Montenegro (you can see a photo record of the trip here). The picture above was taken when we gassed up in Augustow, Poland. We spent almost a month in Montenegro, visiting family, friends and ministry partners. Valerie had a GREAT time, especially at the beach (here is a video of her first experience of the sea).

Then we drove from Montenegro to Rathenow, Germany, the town where Olga lived for a couple of years when her father was stationed at a Soviet military base in East Germany. Olga has many good memories of that town, and it’s where she and her mom first heard the gospel preached; this happened just as the Soviet Union was collapsing. The commander of the base surprisingly allowed a group of Christians to share their testimonies.

From Germany, we went to Estonia. Olga and Valerie returned to Russia while I applied for my new Russian visa and spent time in Estonia and Finland. The picture below is of Finland in Autumn.

So, in the span of about 6 weeks we were in these countries (in order): Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia and Finland. It was quite an adventure.

Valerie is doing very well. She’s growing like a weed and speaking better and better all the time. She’s a good kid and we all love each other. We are gathering documents necessary to petition the court to terminate Oksana’s (Valerie’s birth mother’s) parental rights. We think this will happen in a few weeks. Then we can then move to adopt Valerie, however there is a six-month waiting period after termination of parental rights before we can adopt.

The ministry continues. You can see the most recent Stoneworks update here. Several projects are in various stages: we’ll host a mission team of 40-60 who will minister in Russia and Estonia; two teams from Georgia will go to Montenegro; we continue to work on Sunbeam (the center for children with disabilities in Estonia) and I hope to have some good news about that soon.

Even though the world faces difficulties and we are affected by those forces, our hope is not in the things of this world; our hope is in Christ who is a good shepherd. Remember, He has prepared good work in advance for you to do. His best is always in the future.

 

Snapshots from Finland

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Before getting to the pictures, I wanted to add a couple of links about recent ministry in Belarus and Russia.

I’ve been in Finland for a few days, staying at a little cabin called Koppero. The weather has been great, and I’ve been tucked away working. It’s a mix of high-tech and low-tech: no running water but an internet connection.